RIALTO – Three armed robbers who burst into a North Beechwood Avenue home and engaged in a gun battle with the occupants came in search of drugs, police said Thursday.

The Wednesday evening shooting ended with one robbery suspect and a resident of the home dead. A second robbery suspect suffered a gunshot wound but survived.

“We know that narcotics is involved in this case,” said Rialto police Lt. Joe Cirilo. “They apparently went there for narcotics.”

Police received numerous 9-1-1 calls at 8:45 p.m. when gunshots rang out in the 900 block of North Beechwood.

Officers said Earlwin Donta Johnson, 24, of San Bernardino was found lying in the street. He was pronounced dead at 9:48 p.m. at Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, coroner’s officials said.

The man found dead inside the home remained unidentified Thursday.

Fort Lee Arther, 40, of Desert Hot Springs was taken to Arrowhead Regional where he was treated for a gunshot wound and then released to be booked into jail.

Arther was found riding in a white van with Andrew Lamar Stewart, 23, of Rialto, authorities said. Both men were held on suspicion of homicide.

No occupants of the home were arrested. Police say they plan to submit their case to the District Attorney’s Office before any more arrests are made.

“Should there be sufficient cause to place anybody else into custody, we’ll do so at that time,” Cirilo said.

Investigators said the gun battle was the result of a botched home-invasion robbery.

“Three armed men approached the house. The residents armed themselves and an exchange of gunfire erupted inside the house,” Cirilo said.

At least four men – including the wounded robber – got into a white van and fled the scene before police arrived.

“While officers were responding, an officer spotted the white van a few miles from the scene and attempted to stop it,” Cirilo said.

The driver of the van led police on a short chase and then stopped in the 300 block of North Wisteria Avenue, where two men got out.

Both ran into a residential neighborhood, escaping capture.

Stewart and Arther traveled a short distance and stopped the van again, police said.

On Thursday, yellow police tape lined the street as sheriff’s crime scene specialists gathered evidence at the home. Officers obtained a warrant to search the home and were interviewing both the victims and the suspects.

Although residents said the neighborhood had been the target of a rash of home burglaries recently, nothing this severe has happened there before.

One resident, who declined to give his name out of concern for his safety, said a man who lived at the home was a long-haul truck driver who supported his family in Rialto as well as relatives out of state.

“Why did they do that to him? All he did was help his family,” the man said.

Neighbors said his family lived in the home about six months.

Cirilo said the shooting rocked the relatively quiet street.

“Certainly this has alarmed the neighborhood. They’re in shock,” he said.

Anyone with information on the case may call police Detective Rory Scalf at 909-820-2524 or police dispatch at 909-820-2550.